This invention relates to an idler in a drive system of the type utilizing an endless flexible drive element, such as a chain or the like, and more particularly to a rotatable idler that is self-aligning with respect to the endless flexible drive element that it engages.
Idlers for endless flexible drives are conventionally rotatably mounted on a support structure by means of some type of bearing, it being well known to mount the idler on a fixed shaft be means of a ball bearing. Heretofore, the idler bearings have had conventional circular axial bores, although it is also known to provide ball bearings with noncircular axial openings for mounting the bearing on a corresponding noncircular shaft in some other applications. Also, previous idlers have been difficult to adjust, and generally have not been self-aligning, so that they automatically retain their alignment with the other components in the drive system.